Witty, irreverent, and actually hilarious, "Gwen & Art Are Not in Love" was a perfect balance of a historical romcom. Every character is instantly lovable and the character dynamics are magnetic. Both Gwen and Arthur are compelling main characters and no matter what they do, I was rooting for their happily ever after. The supporting characters hold their own weight in a well-rounded cast of silly people. Croucher takes a fun twist on the classic Arthurian legend and while I was a bit skeptical at first because the dialogue was very modern and anachronistic, I thoroughly enjoyed the reading experience. Everyone should absolutely add this to their bookshelf because it's so fun so cute and so gay.

Review ~

GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE BY LEX CROUCHER

Ok um, I am obsessed with everything about this book. I feel so lucky to have gotten to read it early because it is going on my all-time favorites list. A queer medieval rom-com? SAY NO MORE.

Gwendoline, the hot-tempered princess, and Arthur, King Arthur's descendant, and a royal vagabond, have been betrothed since early childhood. The catch? They despise each other and are QUEER.

In fact, Gwen is pining after the kingdom’s only lady knight and Art finds himself begrudgingly attracted to the royal heir. Thus, they make a pact as allies so they can be with whom they actually desire. There ends up being a whole lot more than love in this story and I was on the edge of my seat until the final page.

I laughed out loud multiple times reading this and highlighted so many passages on my kindle that were heartfelt. This is the book every young queer kid needs to read when contemplating coming out and owning their true selves. The world-building is done well without info dumping and I never felt lost.

The cast of characters was *chef's kiss.* Art is the lord of sharp humor, Gwen is the daughter trying to decide where to show her courage, Sidney is a hilarious wingman always trying to save his charge from trouble, Agnes is the lady in waiting who knows every move Gwen is going to make before she does, Gabriel is the king in training who just wants to be a good leader, Bridget outshining every man with her sword techniques. I love them all.

Read if you love:
Arthurian legends
Witty banter
Teenage drama
Royal courts and jousting tournaments
Heartstopper meets a Knights Tale
LGBTQTIA+ coming-out stories
Heartwarming moments
Swan princess enemies to friends vibes
Sword-fighting
Found family

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for the arc, I feel so grateful!

Gwen and Art are officially OUT on Nov 28, 2023.

A absolute joy to read. This is the third book of Lex Croucher’s I’ve read and I can’t wait for there to be more. The story is laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly clever. The characters were relatable and charming. I will be recommending this to everyone.

WHAT A TREAT. This is adorable, sweet, funny, witty, well written. I've never really been into historical settings, but this was really very sweet. I really had a fun time reading it, especially with how well written the dialogue was. I love the characters, and how they're developed.

Fun :)

It’s no secret in my life that I am an absolute sucker for anything Arthurian. When I first saw this novel become available, I quite literally jumped. I was not, however, prepared for it at all.
This novel is a queer mixed-up and turned on its head retelling of King Arthur and his Camelot. Croucher mixes the most popular legend in with the most perfect young adult coming of age queer love story. But on top of finding love in different ways, the author portrays something we don’t often see in novels: friendship. I’ve never been more jealous of Gwen and Art and the friendship they formed over NOT falling in love with each other. I’ve been seeing lots of hype for this book, and now I can officially say it was 100% worth it. I will for sure be placing this book in the hands of anyone I can. It’s definitely the one to watch.

“You should just fall in love with me,” Arthur said, in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I couldn’t love you back, but I might grow fond of you. I am partial to being adored.” - my favorite line & character- i swear.

I adored Arthur, but Gwen was a little annoying throughout- I much preferred Arthur & Gabriel’s dynamic- but Gwen & Arthur’s friendship was quite a good slow burn.

Fantastic side characters, amazing wit, hilariously raw & real humor and emotion. Lots of good and REAL queer thoughts and issues brought to light during this but all under the comfortable blanket of a King Arthur retelling. How lovely, truly.

I do have to admit the first like 25% of the book, it took forever for me to feel interested. However… From about page 100 until the end- I was INCREDIBLY engrossed. It had constant plot twists & interesting things unraveling, and ended with a fantastic burst of emotion and love. It truly was really great, and now is one of my top favorite Queer books of all time.

Arthur is.. Maybe my favorite character of all time. Followed closely behind by Sidney.

The representation in Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher was outstanding! A great and important read.

That's it. I have a new favorite book. I don't know how anyone could read this book and not immediately fall in love. I was enjoying myself thoroughly from the very first page and that delight stayed strong until the last page had turned. I laughed so hard throughout most of this book and I absolutely adored every second. It was witty and fun and absolutely amazing in every way. The only thing I didn't care for was the moment the book came to an end.

Thank you to NetGalley for this truly amazing ARC!

4.5 stars
Rep: lesbian mc, gay mc, lesbian southeast asian li, gay li

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun, lighthearted read that is easily one of my comfort reads in 2023! I was so pleasantly surprised when I was granted the e-ARC, considering that this book was on my top TBR. Yes, I am a sucker for queer Arthurian retelling, which is not surprising coming from a BBC Merlin fan. Gay Arthur and lesbian Gwen? You have my whole attention.

I just adored Gwen and Arthur from the very start. Their banter was so fun to read, full of sharp humour and snarky comments. I had some really good chuckling as they try to destroy each other and ruin the engagement in the silliest ways possible. And, you guessed it, instead of the typical enemies-to-lovers we get in tons of other cishet romance books, Arthur and Gwen grew from enemies to best friends which is, in my opinion, such a refreshing take. See, this is why queer books are inherently more fun, there are way more creative ways to twist a generic plot line into an engaging story and character development.

I also had fun getting to know the love interest through Gwen and Arthur. Yet, while I have so much joy reading about Gwen blushing and crushing hard over Bridget, I had a hard time warming up to her, mainly because I feel like we don't get to know that much about her and Gabriel, Arthur's love interest. However, Bridget was described as hailing from the Sukhothai Kingdom (i.e., Thailand), and it was such a nice casual representation, as a Southeast Asian myself.

The plot itself feels like it's written in order to develop the characters rather than for the sake of creating a unique plot line, which I really didn't mind considering how much the main characters stood out. I loved how Gwen and Arthur grew as characters, and how they found their own little family with Bridget and Gabriel.

Super cute! Had so many of my favorite tropes (betrothal, royalty, knights, falling for your sibling’s fiancée) and they were executed so well! Definitely had me giggling and kicking my feet. This book was very funny too, which is hard to pull off in a novel. Great characters, swoony romance, and cozy fantasy world; all around a fun time!

This book made my heart SO happy!! I haven't laughed out loud this much reading a YA romance in forever, and the fact that it had LGBTQIA rep as well was icing on the cake.

First of all, having the two main characters NOT be love interests in the story was amazing! Their banter and friendship was one of the best parts of the book, but there were so many good parts it was hard to choose.

The found family vibes made this entire book's description of Heartstopper meets A Knight's Tale so accurate and heartwarming.

This was an easy fast paced read with great storytelling and a perfect balance between plot driven and character driven story. I would gladly read more about these characters!

I love this book. I love Arthur. I love Sid. I love Gwen. I love Bridget. I'm not big on Arthurian legend but this book was funny, heartwarming, and compelling to read. It took me a bit to get into it but once I was hooked I couldn't get enough.

I DNF'd this book within 7 pages because of the dialog. It's a weird amalgamation of "modern" and "classical", with Gabriel ("Gabe") calling Gwendolyn ("Gwen") simply "G", while Gwen tells him to "Please arrive at the point post haste". I also question a YA book opening with Gwen awaking from...a loud sex dream? I can't even.

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC of this book!

I adored this book. Truly.

The setting of Camelot was super fun many years after the reign of Arthur Pendragon. The little mentions of Arthurian lore made it super fun and feel grounded in something bigger. All of the characters I feel like grew throughout the book, which is always nice to see some character development. The relationship between Art and Gwen was fun to track, the sibling relationship was well done, and the relationship between Sid and Art had me laughing out loud. I think these relationships and the group relationships were more enjoyable than the romantic relationships to me personally, which at times felt a bit flat, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

The ending was not something I saw coming, and it gripped me more than I thought it would. I’ll be thinking of all these characters for awhile!

Okay yes, I love a queer romance, so fun and cute etc, etc....BUT GOD THE FRIENDSHIP WAS WHERE IT WAS AT. Rarely do novels make me feel like gooey, mushy fanfic does, where you're rolling around clutching the book to your chest because it's so cute...this one definitely did!

This book was a really fun read! It’s set in medieval times (thus the outfit) and follows Gwen and Arthur, who are betrothed to one another, though they hate each other. However, this plan takes a turn when Gwen sees Arthur kissing a boy, and Arthur snoops in Gwen’s diary to find that she’s in love with a female knight. They make a pact to cover for each other, which gets difficult as they both find themselves falling in love.
I absolutely loved the characters in this book and found them very fun, though I wish I got to see more of Bridget, the knight. It was a very fun plot filled with shenanigans and hijinks. My favorite part of this book wasn’t necessarily the romance but rather the reluctant friendship that forms between Gwen and Arthur. They may not be in love in the way they were supposed to be, but they do love each other by the end.

When I saw this pop up on NetGalley and saw it comparing itself to not just Heartstopper but a personal teenage favorite, A Knight's Tale, I knew that I needed to put this on my TBR immediately! It definitely has all of the irreverent fun of A Knight's Tale; however, the only thing about Gwen and Art are Not in Love that is "like Heartstopper" is that your main characters are LGBTQIA+. That's it. I think a better pitch would be that this is like a queer take on A Knight's Tale.

All of that aside, I had SUCH a fun time with this tale. This is set in a world where Arthur Pendragon was 100% real but the few hundred years since have robbed us of the magics and mystery of his court. That doesn't stop noble families from naming absolutely everyone after members of the Round Table. Which brings us to Gwendolyn and Arthur. These two were betrothed to one another from birth but absolutely cannot stand each other. Now that Gwen is turning 18, its time to get these two married off. Only roguish Arthur is harboring a secret and Gwen is noticing strange new feelings for a young woman competing as a knight in this year's tournament.

This book was soooo good. I actually printed it out with 9 pages per page for convenience (I was given an online ARC). I loved the chemistry between the characters, the historical twists, and most of all, the nod to feminism and the fact that some members of the LGBTQ+ community do not accept themselves as queer. I loved Gwen's girlboss moments, as well as when she dropped her guard and felt vulnerable. Arthur was just so perfectly cocky, and paired with Gabriel's quiet wisdom created the greatest couple. Agens was unbearable sweet and Bridget was a character I cheered on. Sidney was the best possible sidekick. I adored this book and it made me look into the author's other books. This book had great character building and a beautiful world. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an opportunity to read this book as an online advanced reader copy before the release date, as well as to Lex Croucher for writing such a splendidly delightful story.

4.5/5 stars

This book was just amazing! As a queer, young adult this book meant so much to me!

Croucher did a phenomenal job with writing authentic characters that you can't help but fall in love with. Arthur was charming but stupid and from the very first moment I met him I loved him. His relatuonship with Gabe was everything! I love, love, love it when one person is super flirty and the other is more shy. Gwen was uptight and timid and at first she was a little boring but as she grew as a character her perspective became more and more enjoyable. Her romance with Bridget did seem to lack some chemistry though. They didn't really talk much throughout the novel. It also got better towards the end of the novel.

I loved the setting of Camelot several hundred years after Arthur's reign. It was such a unique idea and was well executed. I thought the battle between the two religions was also very well executed.

Overall, I really, really loved this book and highly recommend it.

I could not put this book down. Croucher's characters are bright and well thought out, with dialogue that is quick and snarky, yet sentimental. The author sets the scene so beautifully, it wasn't hard to get sucked in to this queer romance. The story came with plenty of laughs, romantic sighs, and a fair number of shocks. It does hit a lull about two thirds into the book, but the last fifty pages more than make up for it. I will be recommending this book to YA readers, queer readers, and romance readers.